Not Our Dame

Lots of blogosphere buzz is being generated by Obama's upcoming commencement speech at Notre Dame.

There's concern over one of the most pro-abortion presidents ever being invited to speak at a Catholic institution.

This is distressing, but hardly exciting for me to blog about. What I found far more provocative was this quote in an MSNBC article to which Drudge linked:

“Notre Dame students generally come from conservative backgrounds,” said Mike Laskey, a recent Notre Dame graduate who wrote on the subject of ideological shifts among the student body in his position as executive director of Scholastic, Notre Dame’s campus magazine. “A good college education anywhere introduces new ways of looking at the world and shakes up students' perspectives. Because students come in conservative but not strongly formed, it makes sense that many experience an ideological shift to the left.”

I don't know what Laskey's position is on the subject, but I find the quote as such to be a bit disturbing.

I agree that a "good college education anywhere introduces new ways of looking at the world," but does that really have to include a "shake up" of "students' perspectives?" Really, don't we all know from experience that what happens isn't actually a "shake up" but a "shake down?"

Shouldn't a Catholic education be able to introduce students to new ways of thinking without alienating them from the beliefs they started college with? Shouldn't a Catholic education strengthen the students' faith in the face of alternative worldviews and help them come to understand their faith despite contrary points of view?

If the only people who graduate Notre Dame believing in the Catholic faith are the ones who came into the college with a strong sense of belief, then what's the point of calling itself a Catholic institution? Does Catholic merely mean that it gives strong believers have a more likely chance of still believing by the time they graduate?

Rather than looking at "weak" believers as vulnerable sheep in danger of being lost, this alumnus seems to suggest that a good Catholic institution should be structured in such a way that they are driven from the fold.

Oh, but perhaps I mistake. The quote never mentions Catholic, faith, or belief. It only mentions ideology, liberal, and conservative.